Built Vs. Bought

Quick, who wins? We're talking road-course times for the ultimate hot rodded, old ponycar versus a top-of-the-line, new ponycar. The time has come when it's a legit question. Today's hardcore Pro Touring old muscle cars have matured into serious performers without being rowdy race cars, and late-models are finally making horsepower like they really mean it. It's not like 1982, when the all-new Z28 out-cornered any old muscle car (no matter how stiff the springs or how new the KYB Gas-a-Just shocks), and the older muscle cars dominated on the straightaways (no matter how many bolt-ons you tried on your new Z28's anemic 305).

2/16Since the late '30s, hot rodding has meant using the best late-model parts on lighter, older cars. But can gearhead ingenuity outdo bone-stock OE technology?

Ever since its debut in 2010, this has been the most vaunted car in the Pro Touring world, and with good cause. We'll admit there's little '69 Camaro left in the Red Devil built by Mark Stielow (and currently owned by Jason Ayers, who kindly let us trash it for this test). Nope, it borrows heavily from the new Chevy parts catalog, running a 427ci LS7 short-block with an LS9 top end (like the engine in a new ZR1 Corvette)--except it's been worked over by Thomson Automotive ThomsonAutomotive.com to make 10–12 psi of boost from the Eaton TVS 2300 supercharger and power in the range of 750 hp and 800 lb-ft. That's all controlled by a Chevrolet Racing ECM and wiring harness and some other fuel-system goodies from the GM parts shelf. The six-speed manual trans is likewise a GM T56 but reworked by D&D Performance www.w3.org/1999 and grabbing a ZR1 dual-disc clutch.

While the Red Devil uses out-of-the box suspension from Detroit Speed DetroitSpeed.com, Mark put his super secret tuneup on the shock valving using a shock dyno. The only other alteration to the Detroit Speed suspension--Mark swears--is the addition of a support brace for the rear Panhard-bar frame bracket. The system includes the company's complete hydro-formed front subframe as well as the rear Quadra-Link that ditches the stock leaf springs in favor of a four-link and coilovers.

Getting back to the GM parts well, the Red Devil uses ZO6 Corvette tires (Goodyear Supercar G2s in 275/35-18 and 325/30-19) and brakes with 355mm (14-inch) front discs with six-piston Brembo calipers and 345mm (13.5-inch) rears with four-piston calipers. Most miraculously, Stielow has retro-fitted GM antilock brakes to the '69 using factory parts and a few custom items of his own, and he has it totally dialed. He says, "I've given away a lot of my secrets over the years--in my book, or in magazines, or for anyone who asks--but I'm not ready to give up the key to the ABS just yet. It took way too much work. It's my edge right now." Speaking of which, you do know the grossly unfair advantage here, right? Stielow is a GM engineer and has access to all the good toys and the most knowledgeable people.

Player: '12

The new Camaro ZL1 comes from an engineering team loaded with guys who love performance. Virtually every part of the car was either reviewed or updated for use on the ZL1, offering far more than just a bigger engine stabbed into an SS. The engine is a 6.2L, supercharged LSA with 580 hp and 556 lb-ft of torque, and our test car had the six-speed manual trans. The ZL1 weighs 4,120 pounds empty, 570 more than the Red Devil. With less power and more weight, the result might be a foregone conclusion.

But that's when we get to the "far more than just a bigger engine" part. Stielow had to outrun the ZL1's sophisticated Magnetic Ride Control suspension, where the shock damping rates are adjusted in milliseconds based on sensor input about the car's attitude on the track. Combined with advanced stability controls, independent rear suspension, and larger brakes than on the Red Devil (14.6-inch and 14.4-inch rotors) the ZL1 is a serious contender. The tires are 285/35ZR20 and 305/35ZR20.

The Challenge

Our comparison involved trips around the long version (2.14 miles) of the road course at GingerMan Raceway GingerManRaceway.com in South Haven, Michigan. It's important to note that both cars were on the same Goodyear Supercar G2 tires, though the sizes differed. Our driver was Mark Stielow himself, plenty qualified thanks to years of seat time and wins at many Pro Touring shootouts. He's a driving instructor at the GM Milford Proving Ground. He has lots of experience with both cars and with the track.

But where would Stielow's allegiance fall? We asked straight out if he was going to sandbag the Red Devil to keep his job or soft-pedal the ZL1 to make himself look like a hero car builder. He swore he'd go "as hard as I can" in both cars. After ride-along laps with the author at shotgun, the competition involved one entry lap, five hot laps, and one cool-down.

See The Action Video

7/16The Devil breathes fire on decel. You can't even imagine how cool this car sounds until you experience it. The video is a must-see, must-hear. The shootout at Ginger-Man was captured on video for an episode of HOT ROD Unlimited. See it by going to YouTube.com/MotorTrend and search the channel for "Stielow."

Results

First off, Stielow proved he wasn't going to cheat the ZL1 guys back at headquarters. Several weeks earlier, Automobile magazine had used Alex Lloyd--an '07 Indy Lights champ who also placed Fourth at the '10 Indianapolis 500--to run the ZL1 around GingerMan in 1:44:53. Stielow went 1:42:05, a significant 2:48 quicker. Perhaps weather conditions had something to do with the difference, but Stielow put down what's probably the quickest-ever lap in a stock ZL1 at GingerMan. While we won't say Chevy cheated-up our loaner test car, we'd be surprised if it didn't make sure to send us a flawless example.

But Red Devil won, posting a best lap of 1:39:58, slapping the ZL1 by 2.47 seconds.

We also tested 60-0 braking. The cars were amazingly close: ZL1, 107.4 feet and Red Devil 107.1. Stielow says, "It shows both cars have the same tires and good ABS."

Conclusions

As Steilow says, "more power and less weight win the day." But there's a little more to it than that. We used GPS-based Vbox devices to plot the speed and g-forces on the cars, and they confirmed our suspicions: They performed almost the same in the corners (with an edge to the ZL1), and the higher-powered Red Devil trounced the ZL1 in the straights.

We used our infrared temperature gun to check brake and tire temps after each session. The Devil's front and rear calipers were at 275 and 155 degrees, and the ZL1s were 360 and 270. As for tires, the fronts on the '69 were 150 degrees and the ZL1's were 160 (temps were remarkably even across the tread with both cars). Why did the old car run cooler brakes and tires? It's lighter. The Red Devil was clearly the more difficult car to drive, not only because it has a lot more power but also because the suspension is not as forgiving. The ZL1 gives a lot more courage to the average driver.

Do you care about comfort and convenience? The ZL1 wins that--by a lot--although it feels like you're looking out through the slots in an armored truck compared with the visibility of the '69. The Red Devil is the tightest '69 we've ever ridden in, and we did it with the air conditioning on. It has more interior noise than the ZL1, but you couldn't possibly care because it also has one of the greatest exhaust notes ever heard.

8/16This comparison reveals the size diference between the two cars. The new ZL1 has a wheelbase of 112.3 inches and a track width of 63.7, while the ’69 stretches 108 inches with a 59-inch track. The ZL1’s wider stance is a handling advantage. Its 4,120 pounds are not, especially in competition with the Red Devil’s 3,550.

While Stielow builds some of the most refined driving cars in the muscle-car world, they are still hot rods with hot rod quirks. At one point, the Devil had fuel-starvation because the tank was low. It also heated the intercooler more quickly, the result of overspinning the blower. Because of that, the '69 ran race gas during our test, "just to be safe because it's a really expensive engine."

Now, some bench racing. The Motor State Challenge Pro Touring competition was held at GingerMan the weekend prior to our test, but on the shorter, 1.88-mile track (one turn was bypassed). There, the Red Devil set the quickest track time for a vintage car--3.2 seconds better than the next quickest vintage racer (the '69 Camaro driven by Kyle Tucker from Detroit Speed) and also quicker than 26 of the 28 late-model cars on site. Of course, a huge part of that was driver skill. Now check this out: On the 2.18-mile course used on our test day, the ZL1 ran quicker than 28 of the 93 cars that were timed on the 1.88-mile version of the GingerMan track. Hence our bench-racing conclusion: The ZL1 has the capability to outrun nearly any old Pro Touring car. Except the Red Devil.

Let's talk money. You're not going to get a ZL1 for less than about $57,000. Meanwhile, Stielow tried to tell us the Red Devil could be built for around $100,000 in parts. We called BS, and he eventually admitted we weren't jerks for claiming $200,000 to $250,000. Take your new ZL1 to Lingenfelter and spend, oh, $13,000 to make 720 hp, and you're right there with the Devil for a price difference that gives you enough change to buy two or three more ZL1s. But does that make you cool?
Practicality: ZL1. Style and speed: Red Devil.

9/16Here's the data from the Vbox. The red lines are the ZL1; the black ones are the '69. The squiggly lines at the top of the graph are lateral g-forces; the centerline is neutral, the curves above the line are left turns, and the ones below are right turns. The lower graph indicates speeds through those same turns.

What's G-Force?

G-force is gravitational force, which is a measurement of an object's acceleration compared to that of free fall, and therefore tracks only the acceleration resulting from forces other than gravity. However, the measurement is expressed as a multiple of the effects of standard gravity. Positive g-force makes you feel heavier; negative g-force makes you feel lighter (like going over the top of a hill on a rollercoaster).

The Stielow Legacy

Any Pro Touring fan knows Mark Stielow as the hero of the movement; he even claims to have named it. He also wrote the 212-page book about it (shown here), which you can buy at MarkStielow.com. He's built Camaros often and well, so we've shown the progression of the famous ones here. He's also the man behind the Quadra-Duece (a heavily hyped, all-wheel-drive '32 Ford that, through changes of owners, was never completed according to Mark's vision), and his one Chevelle (Malibu)--a '64 called Malitude.